Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. U.S. Supreme Court blocks redrawing of Ohio, Michigan electoral maps

The Supreme Court on Friday blocked lower court rulings ordering Republican legislators in Michigan and Ohio to redraw U.S. congressional maps ahead of the 2020 elections, dealing a blow to Democrats who had argued that the electoral districts were intended to unlawfully diminish their political clout. The justices granted requests from Republican lawmakers in both states to put those decisions on hold, halting further action in the cases and the need to rework electoral district boundaries. The justices did not provide any explanation for their brief orders. Doctor, medical funder charged in New York in transvaginal mesh fraud

A doctor and a surgical funding consultant were arrested on Friday on charges that they defrauded women into having unnecessary surgeries to remove transvaginal mesh implants in order to profit from settlements paid to the women by mesh manufacturers, U.S. prosecutors in New York said. Urogynecologist Christopher Walker, 49, of Florida, and Wesley Barber, 49, of Michigan, were both charged with wire fraud and conspiracy in an indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn. Groups sue over Alabama abortion law; judge blocks Mississippi ban

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging a law enacted by Alabama last week that bans nearly all abortions and makes performing the procedure a felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison. The lawsuit is one of several the groups have filed or are preparing to file against states that recently passed strict anti-abortion measures in an effort to prompt the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case that guarantees a woman's constitutional right to abortion. Trump campaign views healthcare as a 2020 campaign weapon

U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign believes he can turn Republicans' biggest liability from last year's congressional elections - the debate about the future of healthcare in America - into a winning issue for his reelection. That would have appeared highly unlikely just months ago, when Democrats seized upon the issue of coverage for pre-existing medical conditions to capture control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Trump retweets doctored video of Pelosi to portray her as having 'lost it'

U.S. President Donald Trump, engaged in personal attacks on House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, retweeted a heavily edited video that falsely claimed the Democratic leader had difficulty speaking to reporters. In a Twitter posting late on Thursday, the Republican president wrote, "PELOSI STAMMERS THROUGH NEWS CONFERENCE." Accompanying the tweet was a heavily edited Fox Business Network clip of Pelosi's 23-minute news conference earlier in the day. 'Embodiment of evil': Jayme Closs kidnapper sentenced to die in prison

A Wisconsin judge sentenced Jake Patterson to two terms of life imprisonment on Friday for kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs and murdering her parents, describing him as "one of the most dangerous men ever to walk this planet." Barron County Circuit Court Judge James Babler said Patterson, 21, admitted to having fantasies of "taking multiple girls, and killing multiple families" as he handed down a sentence with no possibility of release. Pentagon eyes expanding DARPA future warfare research office

The U.S. Department of Defense is close to expanding its legendary future warfare and technology agency DARPA by combining it with the Pentagon office in charge of adapting existing weapons to new uses, people familiar with the plans said. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency would absorb the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) and centralize more research units under the Pentagon's Chief Technology Officer Michael Griffin. U.S. states want federal government to forgive disabled veterans' student loans

Attorneys general from 47 U.S. states on Friday called on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to forgive more than $1 billion of student loans burdening more than 42,000 veterans who became permanently disabled through their military service. Led by New Jersey Democrat Gurbir Grewal and Utah Republican Sean Reyes, the attorneys general said in a letter https://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/NAAG-Letter-to-Sec.-DeVos.pdf they welcomed federal efforts to make loan discharges easier to obtain, but said the Department of Education should develop an automatic process to forgive loans rather than require veterans to apply for loan discharges. Trump appeals ruling allowing banks to hand his financial records to Congress

U.S. President Donald Trump, three of his children and the Trump Organization on Friday appealed a court order allowing Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp to hand their financial records over to Democratic lawmakers. They are asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to overrule U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos, who on Wednesday refused to block the banks from responding to subpoenas issued last month by two U.S. House of Representatives committees. Democrats grapple with 'electability' question as white men lead diverse field

Democrats seeking to unseat Republican U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020 will choose from the largest and most diverse set of candidates in history - yet, so far, two older white men are leading the pack. The early dominance of former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, 77, is raising uncomfortable questions about whether Democratic voters think a woman or minority candidate has what it takes to defeat Trump, the likely Republican nominee.